Antennas find use in a variety of applications, including those applications subject to ballistic impact, such as in military vehicles. Such vehicles are typically in harsh, adverse and violent environments where ballistic protection is essential to the vehicle survival. Antennas may emit or receive electromagnetic energy, for example, for the purposes of communication. The current urban environment warfare requires a large amount of close-in combat. Electro-optical/electromagnetic data links, radar and other electromagnetic sensors are sensitive devices critical to the success of a military mission. Communication and sensors may help to extend the life of personnel and increase the effectiveness of a vehicle. However, antennas for use with communication systems for use on such vehicles suffer from the drawback that in order to send and receive the electromagnetic energy from the desired directions, the antennas are typically fabricated from materials and are mounted in locations that are vulnerable to ballistic threats. In order to protect the communications devices from ballistic threats, protective shields may be installed around or near the communication devices. However, protective shields capable of providing protection from ballistic threats are generally not transparent or permeable to the operating electromagnetic frequencies of most antennas. Therefore, currently no antenna system exists that provides antennas capable of emitting and/or receiving electromagnetic energy while remaining resistant to ballistic attack.
Typically, metallic barriers are used to provide some level of protection from ballistic threats, such as fragments, bullets, or projectiles. For example, thick armor plates are typically welded underneath military vehicles to provide protection from mines and other explosives, such as improvised explosive devices (IEDs). However, such metallic barriers retard transmission of electromagnetic energy, making communicating or sensing, either electrically, optically, thermally or with some other electromagnetic phenomena, through this protective barrier difficult or impossible. Therefore, antennas currently available are substantially unprotected from ballistic attack.
What is needed is a system that provides a communication system, including an antenna, with ballistic resistance, while providing substantially unimpeded transmission and/or receiving of electromagnetic energy.